10 Simple Ways to Lift Your Low Moods

Here’s Grandma’s advice: There is healing power in life's simple things, writes author Becky Johnson. So, go to the basics when life threatens to get you down! Here’s how ...

Don’t let life get you down!

Do something productive with your hands. In the book, Lifting Depression, author and neuroscientist Kelly Lambert shares how she struggled to get over a period grief when her mother died. She noticed, however, that when she vacuumed the house, her spirits lifted. This lead to her eventual study of the “effort-driven-reward loop.” Her research showed that when we do something physical, particularly involving our hands, and it produces something tangible – a knitted sweater, a clean house, a repaired engine, a good meal – it activates the pleasure center in our brain and helps to lift our moods.